On the state of the modern car interior

"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa) 11/06/2015 at 20:39 • Filed to: musings

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A car’s interior is one of the most important parts. Very important. Up there with “engine, wheels, brakes, body, and windows”. A big deal. Strangely, it has been given far from ‘enough thought’ by many manufacturers for many years. During the Dark Ages of the auto industry from around 2004 to 2010 most domestic car interiors were rather poor. And by “rather poor” I mean “utterly detestible”. Here’s a 2007 Ford Taurus to show what I mean.

WOW THAT’S A LOT OF BROWN, FOLKS. Unfortunately another point I have has just been demonstrated: even the most shit interior looks approachable in a picture. Of course, some are even worse than that. For example, this 200-whatever Chevy something or another. They all blend together.

Holy mother of Plastic. With a capital ‘pee’, because that’s what this interior is. Piss poor. What you see here is slightly mushy plastic textured like leather (?), hard shiny plastic printed on to look like wood, hard dull plastic textured to look like brushed metal, and plastic with the paint rubbed off of the buttons (the HVAC controls. Every. Damn. Time).

Now let’s look at some of Chevy’s modern offerings.

(Chevrolet Cruze)

(Chevrolet Malibu)

(Chevrolet Equinox)

(Chevrolet 3500HD High Country)

An economy sedan, mid-sized sedan, crossover SUV, and a truck. All of them look like incredibly nice places to be, and they are. The Cruze and the High Country are two of the nicest interiors in that lineup, and the Cruze is a damn economy car and its interior spanks the living hell out of anything the Dark Ages could throw at us, even from luxury brands like Lincoln or Cadillac. Or Chrysler. Speaking of Chrysler, here’s a modern FCA interior.

(RAM truck)

Even Chrysler, the frequent punching-bag of interior critics everywhere has come out with wheels-n-seats-n-dashboards that don’t make babies cry. What has the world come to?

Well, its senses, mostly.

Car manufacturers seem to have finally got it through their thick corporate skulls that the place a person spends all of their time in a vehicle, the inside, is worth spending more than a pauper’s income on. It’s all about impressions, and modern American cars are finally able to deliver.

And that pleases me.

All photos by Jake. I think. I took them at work and honestly I never signed anything saying I didn’t hold copyright so... mine.

GeorgeyBoy > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 20:43

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My eyess

whoarder is tellurium > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:00

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Getting into the Cruze, I would hit my knee right there every freaking time.

Birddog > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:02

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My parents have a 2011 Impala. Overall it’s a competent car. The interior is just horrific though. There was less cheap, hard plastic in my 73 Chevelle. Honestly, my 95 F150 has a nicer interior.

They have definitely made great strides in the last few years!

Sneaky Pete > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:05

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Malibu looks really nice other than that God awful center stack mess. No matter how nice the rest of the interior looks, the bow-tie always screams cheap to me. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s gold.

For how much credit they get for their ZOMG BEST INTERIORS EVAR! Audi’s offerings did nothing for me. I really like what Cadillac has going right now (other than the garbage capacitive optioned interiors).

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Birddog 11/06/2015 at 21:06

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Well, considering a 2011 impala is the exact same thing as a 2005 impala and has one of the worst GM interiors in decades... yeah, I’m sorry. I had to drive one of those to the gulf of mexico and back (I’m in Kansas). It was miserable. Decent sound system, though.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Sneaky Pete 11/06/2015 at 21:07

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Oh god, yeah, the capacitive buttons are the worst. Just resetting the oil life on the one Chevy now that has that shit is impossible. The secret I was just let into today was “rub your finger on it”. Seriously? Rub it? What the fuck?

Also the glowing neon lights in the Malibu are cool as fuck, and I love how knobs are making a comeback. Love grabbing some knobs.

Amoore100 > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:11

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Prior to the 2000s they were even worse...

(Not my picture, and thankfully not my Sunfire)

Alex from Toronto > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:12

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The old Tahoe/ Suburban really wasn’t that bad imo.

RazoE > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:14

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Worst car interior I’ve ever been in was a 2004 or so Chevrolet Impala. Such a miserable place to be in, seriously.

look at that shit. Who the hell approved this?

I honestly get pissed off looking at pictures of it.

Look at those shapes, and fit and finish and materials.

Berang > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:16

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Center consoles are still way too wide/thick/tall.

GhostZ > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:28

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Car manufacturers seem to have finally got it through their thick corporate skulls that the place a person spends the first few minutes in before deciding to buy the car is worth spending more than a pauper’s income on.

Fixed that for you.

A lot of new interiors are nice to sit in and look at but do they hold up after a year of ownership?

Nisman > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 21:35

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Glad you claimed copyright cause otherwise I was gonna use that 07 Tarus interior as my background!

wbizarre - OEM fetishist > Birddog 11/06/2015 at 22:14

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I sat in the back of that generation of Impala (no, I was not arrested, it was a friend’s car.) I’m only slightly taller than average, yet my head was hitting the roof - that fact just blew my mind. A full-size American sedan with no headroom in the rear?! That’s a flaw of cosmic proportions.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Berang 11/06/2015 at 22:18

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I honestly like it. The center console in my Miata and even in the Murdersofa is just... far too small. Can’t hold shit. A modern car? Damn, you can fit a lot of junk in there, and it really doesn’t infringe on passenger room that much so... yay?

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > RazoE 11/06/2015 at 22:18

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Those are decent looking cars from the outside but yeah the interiors are miserable.

Nibby > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 22:19

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My mom’s 2013 Fusion Energi has a lovely interior and my Ram 1500’s interior is a pretty nice place to be, even though mine doesn’t have leather and is a lower-end trim.

Nibby > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 22:19

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“rubbing”

“finger”

“grabbing some knobs”

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Nibby 11/06/2015 at 22:54

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Honestly I only intended the last one.

Jayhawk Jake > GhostZ 11/06/2015 at 23:43

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Really well if you take care of them. My car is 2 years old and the interior is as nice as it was the day I bought it

not for canada - australian in disguise > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 23:43

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The biggest jump was Kia, in 10 years they went from this plastic-fantastic mess of an interior (2006 Magentis)

To this (2016 Optima) Gorgeous brown leather everywhere, a well thought out centre stack, and a steering wheel that doesn’t make me want to vomit.

Speed > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 23:48

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I did a 10hr road trip in a Cruze once and hated every moment of it. Who the hell decided fishnet made good dash material? It’s visually appealing, but many surfaces are as hard as what’d you’d get 10 years ago.

The older Tahoe/Suburban interior you mentioned earlier is a nicer place to be. There’s “squish” on more of the surfaces. I think the mid 2000s is when things began to perk up for American car companies, particularly GM.

To me, 85ish to 95ish is the absolute worst. They left the cool, vynil simplicity of the 70s and moved into Fisher Price territory with hard plastics, terrible panel alignment and just an overall aura of cheap. My ‘98 Z28 and ‘93 Grand Cherokee are awful on the inside. My SN95 Mustangs were too, but at least the interiors “looked” awesome.

wiffleballtony > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 23:49

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Honestly, I don’t really care about interiors that much. What’s the price differential between these cars?

Chariotoflove > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/06/2015 at 23:51

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I agree with you about everything except the dark ages for interiors started in the 80s. Also, silver paint on plastic trim should be outlawed and made a capital crime.

RazoE > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/07/2015 at 00:03

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Only the ones with the foglights and tail light covers (think SS) look pretty nice from the outside. The rest..........

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > RazoE 11/07/2015 at 00:15

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“HOLY SHIT IS THAT A GT-R oh nope nevermind. Fucking GM.”

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Chariotoflove 11/07/2015 at 00:19

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Buick and Cadillac had some nice shit in the 90s and 2000s. The Deville/Seville/Park Avenue/LeSabre all of the G-body cars had pretty damn good interiors. I drove a 2006 Cadillac CTS and was stunned at how terrible the interior was. The buttons were straight out of an ‘05 Trailblazer, down to the stupid italic font. The steering wheel was a nightmare and it was made out of the cheapest plastic I could imagine. Compare this to a 2005 Cadillac Deville or Seville, which are some of the comfiest road-cruisers you can imagine with leather-wrapped everything and very few rattles, even 10-15 years later.

Of course, their mid range and low end shit was terrible. Take a look at the Century/Regal, Malibu, Impala, fucking Monte Carlo, etc. but at least they had a few redeeming cars that then took an ENORMOUS step backwards when Cadillac became “the luxosports brand” with the CTS and Buick became “hey guise we’re relavent look tiger woods lol” with the Rendezvous and Lucerne.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > wiffleballtony 11/07/2015 at 00:22

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Not really worth mentioning the price differential because of how much it changes due to how you option them, which is a totally different rant (why the fuck does Buick exist when an optioned-up Impala is nicer and far more attractive than a LaCrosse at the same price?). The truck is the only super expensive one at an easily six-digit price tag.

I don’t really get how you don’t care about the part of the car you interact with literally every time you get in it, but to each his own.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Speed 11/07/2015 at 00:24

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I... honestly love the fishnet. It’s unique. At least it isn’t more damned plastic trying to look like wood/carbon fibre/whatever. Particularly fetching when it’s black fishnet over red fabric. Either way, I’ve put in stupid amounts of seat time in Cruzes and never had any issue, so I guess it’s fairly subjective (I’m small, so I fit well in small cars).

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/07/2015 at 00:27

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Kia’s killing it lately, and the K900 is fairly high on my list of “want” cars. 10 year warranty? $54k starting? Dat luxury and 420hp? Damn, if I ever bought a new car...

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/07/2015 at 00:49

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I happen to like those GMT900 interiors, despite the overuse of fake wood trim. When that series debuted, the interiors were widely hailed as a substantial improvement over the derivative, rectilinear theme of the GMT800 interiors. And as much as I want to like the Cobalt’s interior, the overall design is a bit too busy for me, and I’ve seen several examples in real life where the colored inserts on the door panels and the inserts on the dash are visibly misaligned. To a lesser extent, the newest Malibu and Equinox interiors are also not to my liking.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/07/2015 at 02:41

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My car’s interior is amazing, save for the rattles. I don’t mind though, just means it’s aging.

Adore my stepdad's Touareg though. That is one heluva family hauler

wiffleballtony > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/07/2015 at 13:13

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It’s not that I don’t care, but it’s not something that makes or breaks the car for me. I’m more interested in the engine and handling.